Overlooked in Mets’ Focus on the Future, a Nice Victory

Catcher Taylor Teagarden, in his first game as a Met, hit a grand slam in the sixth inning against division-leading Milwaukee.

Al Bello / Getty Images

By JORGE ARANGURE Jr.

June 10, 2014

A certain inevitability hangs over the Mets. Once the season begins to crumble, the future rapidly becomes the present. When the Mets arrived home Sunday after an 11-game trip, in the middle of a six-game losing streak, they appeared to have reached that point more quickly than they had expected.

General Manager Sandy Alderson said in spring training that he believed the team was capable of winning 90 games. Entering Tuesday night’s game at Citi Field against the National League Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers, the Mets were on pace for a 90-loss season.

So while a 6-2 win against the Brewers might have been an important measuring point during a more successful season, most of the pregame chatter involved Matt Harvey’s health, Manager Terry Collins’s future and the recent demotion of the catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud, who has struggled badly at the plate.

Even the biggest in-game topic of the day had an eye on the future: a move to the leadoff spot for Ruben Tejada, who, entering Tuesday’s game, had posted a .341 average and .460 on-base percentage since May 25.

The move paid off Tuesday. Tejada drew a two-out walk in the third inning that Daniel Murphy followed with a two-run homer to help Daisuke Matsuzaka earn his third win. Matsuzaka was superb Tuesday, allowing just three hits in six innings while striking out five.

Collins said Matsuzaka would have stayed in the game to start the seventh inning had he not been struck in the right hamstring by a line drive from Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez to lead off the sixth inning. Matsuzaka, who lowered his earned run average to 2.95, ended the game at 100 pitches.

“Pitch-count-wise, I would have been all right to go into the next inning,” Matsuzaka said through an interpreter.

Taylor Teagarden, in his first game as a Met after being called up from the minors to replace d’Arnaud, hit a sixth-inning grand slam that gave the Mets some breathing room. Before that at-bat, the Mets had been only 10 for 64 with the bases loaded this season.

Tejada had a disappointing season in 2013 and has had a slow start to this one, and Collins is trying to coax his once-promising career back to life. Moves like having Tejada bat leadoff have gained support for Collins in the Mets’ front office.

Daniel Murphy hitting a two-run home run in the third inning on Tuesday.

Noah K. Murray / USA Today Sports, via Reuters

“We know he can do it,” Collins said of Tejada’s successful night in the leadoff spot. “Could we leave him in there? We don’t know that yet.”

During the recent losing streak, reports surfaced questioning Collins’s job security. As a result of those reports, Alderson said he had reassured Collins shortly after the team returned from the trip that his job was not in jeopardy.

“What the team needs to do, what we need to do, is focus on winning games and getting better and improving the young players,” Alderson said before the game. “Sometimes you have to address topics that you wouldn’t otherwise because all of the noise that surrounds the situation.”

Exactly when the Mets will be ready to win is a matter of debate. They will need Harvey, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery last year, to be healthy and part of the rotation. Several weeks ago, the Mets set Tuesday as the day Harvey would throw off a sloped incline. But on Tuesday, the Mets said they would delay that part of the rehabilitation indefinitely.

“We don’t really want him pitching in a major league game sooner than 11 months from the time of the operation,” Alderson said before the game. “That’s about the last week of September. That’s a very narrow window to try to hit. From our standpoint, after talking to our doctors, it made sense to slow him down a little bit. So there hasn’t been a setback.”

Harvey will most likely throw his first meaningful pitches this year during an instructional league game in the fall.

“I’m the one throwing the baseball; I’m the one who knows how it’s coming out of my hand and how everything feels, and I haven’t had one pinch of pain or however you could explain that,” Harvey said before the game. “Obviously, there are other factors that go into the decision making. I can only express how good I feel and how ready I personally feel.”

The Mets played one of their best games of the season on a day when so much seemed focused on the future. They hit. They pitched well. They played good defense.

Alderson said the team was capable of going on a long winning streak. Even so, 90 wins seems quite far away.